editorial | Fatah, Hamas alliance raises host of sticky questions

Nature hates a vacuum. Thus it should surprise no one that the recent collapse of the U.S.-brokered peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority would trigger troubling consequences.

Perhaps most troubling of all is the emergence of the Palestinian Authority’s new unity government, composed of members of Fatah and backed by its heretofore arch rival, Hamas. To Israel’s consternation, rather than objecting to a government that has been given the seal of approval by a terrorist organization bent on Israel’s destruction, the United States has said it will continue to work with this newly cobbled-together Palestinian entity. It’s business as usual.

For those who had previously minimized what appeared to some as American appeasement of Palestinian obstruction and incitement, this latest development may cause an agonizing reappraisal of the Obama administration’s Middle East strategy.

On one hand, because of the geographical and philosophical divide between Hamas and Fatah, Israel and its supporters have in the past derided Abbas as a weak partner, claiming he did not speak for all Palestinians. Now, with the unity government in place, he does, which in theory would seem like a positive step.

On the other hand, there are red lines that Israel, the United States and all civilized countries should never cross. One of those blood-red lines is treating with even a modicum of respect a murderous, utterly contemptible gang such as Hamas.

It is true that the new PA government does not include Hamas activists or political officials (“technocrats” is the neutered euphemism being bandied about to describe the cabinet members). But it is no stretch to assume that any Hamas-backed government would include individuals who share the terrorists’ goal of eschewing peace and destroying Israel.

It’s impossible to say what happens next. Will Hamas, through its newly prominent platform, entertain reform or moderate its stance? Will this Hamas-Fatah rapprochement melt down into bloody fratricide, as have all previous attempts, taking down the government as quickly as it emerged? Will Israel and the United States grow further apart as the White House attempts to show itself more “evenhanded?”

These questions will likely play out, for better or worse, in the months ahead. We predict the U.S.-Israel relationship will not be damaged in the long run. Still, it is disturbing to see Israel’s greatest ally acquiesce in the face of the unmitigated evil that is Hamas.

Comments

Posted by craven_maven
06/06/2014 at 09:53 AM

Obama Is No Friend of Israel

The Obama’s insistence on recognizing and dealing with the “Unity” government is entirely consistent with his past policy of support of Islamist dictatorships and antipathy to secular democracy in the Middle East, including his hostility towards Israel. Examples of these policies abound:

1) Obama’s apathy and inaction in reaction to widespread Green demonstrations in Iran in 2009-2010 against the Islamofacisist regime.

2) Obama’s squandering of the US military victory in Iraq and his abandonment of Iraq to Islamist terrorists, including al-Qaeda and associated groups, who weekly kill dozens of men, women and children.

3) Obama’s support and arming of al-Qaeda in Libya.

4) Obama’s enthusiastic support of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, in contrast to his tepid support for the secular Egyptian military and recently elected President el-Sisi, who are effectively fighting Islamist terrorists in the Sinai Peninsula and elsewhere, and opposing the repression of the Muslim Brotherhood.

5) Obama’s support of “rebels” in Syria, one of who recently murdered 4 civilians at the Jewish Museum in Brussels.

6) Obama’s indifference to the plight of Jews caught in the civil war in Ukraine.

7) Obama’s uneven handedness in dealing with the Arab-Israeli conflict, favoring the former over the latter, including coercing Israel into making concessions, like freeing hundreds of murderers from its prisoners and freezing settlements, while requiring absolutely nothing from the Arabs in return.

8) Obama negotiating the release of a U.S. soldier, Bowe Bergdahl, who is a deserter, collaborator with the Taliban, and convert to Islam, in return for freeing 5 of the worst Muslim terrorists from Gitmo. The sight of Obama embracing Bergdahl’s father, an avowed Muslim opposed to the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, in the Rose Garden should give one pause. It recalls Obama’s bowing to Muslim leaders in the past.

9) Obama’s 23-year membership in Chicago’s Trinity United Church, which was affiliated with Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam, a virulently anti-Semitic group.